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Banira Giri
Background Although Banira Giri was born in Kuresong, Darjeeling in West Bengal, India, she remains deeply rooted in her love for her ancestral country, Nepal. Forced to leave Nepal due to political unrest during the cruel period of Rana rule, Giri's father traveled from East Nepal to settle in the small Indian town of Kuresong. Whilst setting up a small roadside business selling cloth, her father would often ask people who came from Nepal about the political situation. Giri said, "His queries and stories about the revolutionaries, the martyrs, became the foundation of my political consciousness". At home, Giri read Nepali books and journals, such as the works of Nepali dramatist Bal Krishna Sama and successful Nepali poets, Devkota and Rimal, all of which her father had brought into the house. Motivation for Writing Giri writes, "Poetry is my first love; it is my most personal urge... If someone wanted to punish me, forbidding me to write would be a far greater punishment than sending me to jail." What helped Giri to realise and develop her poetic consciousness was her mother, who recited Sanskrit and Nepali shlokas in her morning puja (performed in order to thank the Hindu Sun God, Surya, for sustaining life on Earth and to request the granting of certain wishes). This spirit drives Giri's poetry. Her poetry is shaped by the earthly and spiritual beauty of Nepal - its wide and varied landscape and views, height and depths. Most of her poems express her love for the country, her life and surroundings. Giri believes that: "We are all connected to life and nature. Poetry celebrates this connection. It also raises a warning voice to those who would ignore and violate all that is human and natural. To ignore the call of the earth, to violate our human connection to ourselves and to our surroundings - is that not also to strike a blow against poetry, against inspiration? The poet will always raise his voice against this desecration." In The Rising Nepal, a news article titled 'Parshu Pradhan and Benira Giri Honoured with Madhuparka Samman', Giri stated her belief in the role of literature, that it should "help transform the society", especially so since it is a "flag of power". Significance of Works Giri's works are largely personal. Written in Nepali, the language's meaning, sound and depth expresses the sympathy of her heart. However, her poems are also "forged in the political and social sensitivity", revealing cracks in the society on the social and political level. The more prominent themes in her work are Violations of the Innocent & Powerless by the Powerful and Environment Degradation. Thus, her works give a voice to the oppressed and the marginalised, raising social consciousness of the inequalities present in Nepal's society, especially in its disparity in the treatment of women compared to men. In some poems, one of such is "Wound", she seeks to empower women to turn their stigmata of violation into an emblem of power. Themes & Styles in "Wound" In "Wound", the powerful expressions along with vivid imagery of rape throughout the poem gives rise to some central themes involving power play: : Oppression of Women : The female speaker recognises the natural, biological physical strength that the man has over her - his 'full force first raised against her'. It is this very force that leaves her physically powerless to help herself out of the situation. : Power of the Oppressed - Rebellion : While the man possesses the physical power to oppress the speaker, the speaker is not entirely helpless. She rebels in spirit, refusing to submit to the man's will. She exhibits her power by taking on the force of the victor and issues a dare: :::::::: Tread upon me with all your thieves & robbers :::::::: For this is certain: you'll tire, not me! :::::::: 'Let the variegated wishes for life germinating in me :::::::: be winnowed by your stormy gusts. Finish it! Destroy! ::::::::Wound! Maul and smother me :::::::: Lick me with your slathering flames :::::::: For I convert your force. I'm hardened to it' :::::::::::::::::: ("Wound") : Her cries of 'Violation!' tears the ears of those who have oppressed her and the ending chant drives her determination to not be broken and subjugated by the powerful: :::::::: But its surely so, violator : '' Violation!'' tearing your ears, listen :::::::: Your armory will be emptied -- I will not ::::::::your armory will be emptied -- I will not :::::::::::::::: ("Wound") :